Aubrey’s awesome: UConn women’s basketball tops Louisville in top 20 matchup behind Griffin’s 25

HARTFORD – When Aubrey Griffin came out of Saturday’s game at the XL Center with a little over a minute left, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said something to her that made her smile.

As she went to the bench, the 13,028 fans gave her a standing ovation.

Griffin, a fifth-year player at UConn who has played inconsistently this season, scored 25 points on 9-for-11 shooting and had five rebounds and four steals off the bench as the No. 17 Huskies beat No. 18 Louisville 86-62.

“He was like, ‘I really hate you, you know that?’” Griffin said.

“I was having fun with her,” Auriemma said. “She knows I think she could be like this every night if she wanted to be. If there were anything I thought that would prevent her from being like this, I would certainly try to fix it. But it’s totally within her control.

“Today she took advantage of all the things that are available out there. I think there’s more opportunities out there than what you saw today.”

Paige Bueckers had 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and five blocked shots for the Huskies. Aaliyah Edwards had 22 points on 10-for-12 shooting, seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. KK Arnold added 11 points and five assists.

“On our best teams, we’ve always had really really good guard play and KK and Paige give us that,” Auriemma said. “We’ve always had an inside game – Aaliyah gave us that – and there’s always been a good wing player that can create mismatches, inside, outside, whatever, and tonight that was Aubrey and that’s been the formula for winning at UConn since the beginning of time.

“It’s probably the first game this year where we had those three things fall into place.”

In the last three games, Griffin was 0 for 2 against Texas, had 14 points against Ball State and five against North Carolina. But with a lineup missing some key members, the Huskies needed her to come up with more on a game-to-game basis.

“It’s a game-changer for us,” Bueckers said. “Just to have that sort of spark plug off the bench, it provides a huge boost for us when she’s aggressive, when she’s attacking. She’s a player that can do everything out there on the floor. She was extremely confident today and changed the game for us on both sides of the floor.”

The last time Louisville (10-2) came to the state, almost two years ago to the day in 2021, the Cardinals defeated the Huskies at Mohegan Sun 69-64. It was the first time Louisville had beaten UConn in Connecticut.

There would be none of that Saturday. UConn (7-3) showed that there is a large gap between No. 17 and 18 in the AP poll.

“We had some really bad breakdowns in that second half, In the first half as well but the difference was we scored in the first half,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “If Aubrey plays like that every night – we loved the kid in high school, recruited her hard – she’s got a motor that doesn’t stop. She might have an off night shooting but she’s never going to have an off night effortwise.”

UConn came out energized and aggressive, both offensively and defensively, and kept up the intensity for much of the game. Bueckers was throwing down over the back of her head passes on the fast break to Edwards and blocking shots. Griffin shot 6 for 7 in the first half and hit a 3-pointer.

“Tonight, I just wanted to go out there and do anything to help my team win – just do what I’m good at,” Griffin said.

The two teams traded baskets in the first quarter and at the end, the Huskies led 28-27. UConn used an 8-0 run in the middle of the second quarter – fueled by a Bueckers’ 3-pointer, a Griffin basket and a 3-pointer by Ashlynn Shade – to pull ahead with their first significant lead of the game, 40-31. Kiki Jefferson (19 points) hit a layup and a 3-pointer to bring the Cardinals back in the game but then Griffin came alive again with a layup and a steal.

UConn led 46-42 at halftime.

“It felt like we had more of a flow on offense, more of a flow on defense,” Bueckers said. “We played together, we had a lot of guys contributing.”

Auriemma’s take: “Our defense was smart today – well, less dumb. We made a lot of really good decisions defensively, especially in the second half. And we outrebounded them.”

UConn did, 33-29, in an area of the game where the Huskies have struggled this season. And they were consistent, coming out with the same kind of energy in the third quarter as they did in the first.

UConn opened the second half with a 5-0 run. Walz was called for a technical foul after he complained about a foul called on Jefferson and Bueckers made one of the two free throws.

When Edwards scored on a nice pass from Arnold in the lane, she was 8 for 8 from the field and UConn led 55-46. Edwards missed her first shot late in the third quarter, going 9 for 9 before that.

UConn led 65-51 after the third, outscoring the Cardinals, 19-9 in the quarter. Bueckers hit back-to-back 3s in the fourth quarter to put the Huskies up 73-51 and put the game away.